Russian air crash kills "at least 45"

[Mitch Cronin]

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20110907/166504776.html

YAROSLAVL, September 7 (RIA Novosti)

At least 45 people died on Wednesday afternoon when a plane carrying the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl ice-hockey team crashed during take-off near Yaroslavl, some 250 km from Moscow, emergencies officials said.

Two people survived the crash, investigators said.

Eight members of the crew were among the dead.

The Yak-42 plane was carrying the team to Minsk, the Belarusian capital, for the start of the new Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). The side is coached by Canadian Brad McCrimmon, a former Detroit Red Wings assistant.

The plane crashed at 4:00 p.m. Moscow time (noon GMT).

The plane fell to earth straight after take-off and burst into flames.

"Passenger body parts were found in the Volga River, where part of the fuselage fell," a police source said.

President Dmitry Medvedev, who was due to take part in a political forum in Yaroslavl on Thursday, has expressed his condolences to the families of the victims. His press-secretary said Medvedev would visit the site of the crash.

One of the survivors was Russian national side player Alexander Galimov. The other was a member of the crew, a club official said. Their conditions are not known.

Lokomotiv has a number of former NHL stars on the books, including former Minnesota Wild and Vancouver Canucks centre Pavol Demitra, Josef Vasicek, also a centre formerly with the New York Islanders and Carolina Hurricanes, and Belarusian defenseman Ruslan Salei, formerly of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Colorado Avalanche and the Red Wings.

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, founded in 1949 as the team of the Railways Ministry, is one of Russia’s leading hockey teams and came runner up in the nascent Kontinental Hockey League in 2008 and 2009. In 1997 it took the Russian Superleague title and won back-to-back championships in 2002 and 2003. It was one of the favorites for this year’s Kontinental Hockey League.

Alexander Medvedev, the president of the KHL, said authorities would act to ensure there was top-flight hockey in Yaroslavl.

“I want to reassure you that we will do everything possible to make sure hockey of the highest level continues in Yaroslavl, and that Lokomotiv remains one of the KHL’s strongest clubs,” said Medvedev in televised comments. He was addressing the crowd before the season-opening game between reigning champion Salavat Yulaev and Atlant in the city of Ufa. The game was cancelled as news of the disaster broke.

Russia has a poor aviation safety record. President Medvedev has promised to take Soviet-era planes out of service from next year. The Yak-24 has been in service since 1980.

[boestar]

MOSCOW - Officials say the death toll in the Russian plane crash has reached 43. A jet carrying a hockey team crashed Wednesday while taking off in western Russia.

The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said the Yak-42 crashed immediately after taking off from an airport near the city of Yaroslavl, on the Volga River, 240 kilometres northeast of Moscow. It said one person survived the crash with grave injuries.

The ministry said the plane was carrying the Lokomotiv hockey team from Yaroslavl.

The team was heading to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, where it was to play Thursday against Dynamo Minsk in the opening game of the season of the Kontinental Hockey League. The CHL is a league of several ex-Soviet countries.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sent his transport minister to the site of the crash, 15 kilometres east of Yaroslavl.

Former NHLers on the team roster include Pavol Demitra and Ruslan Salei, and the coach is Canadian Brad McCrimmon. But it was not immediately known whether they were on board the plane.

Former Montreal Canadien Brent Sopel, who is now playing in Russia, tweeted shortly after the crash: "In shock. Prayers out to all of the KHL families."

McCrimmon, 52, is a native of Saskatchewan. He played defence for six NHL teams - Boston, Philadelphia, Calgary, Detroit, Hartford and Phoenix from 1979-80 to 1996-97.

He played 1,222 regular season games in the NHL, collecting 81 goals, 322 assists and 1,416 penalty minutes.

McCrimmon was an assistant coach with the New York Islanders, Calgary Flames, Atlanta Thrashers and Detroit Red Wings. He also served as head coach of the Western Hockey League's Saskatoon Blades.

The short- and medium-range Yak-42 has been in service since 1980 and dozens are still in service with Russian and other airlines.

In June, another Russian passenger jet crashed in the northwestern city of Petrozavodsk, killing 47 people. The crash of that Tu-134 plane has been blamed on pilot error.

President Dmitry Medvedev has announced plans to take aging Soviet-built planes out of service starting next year.

Read it on Global News: Global BC | Russian jet carrying hockey team crashes after takeoff, 43 killed

[Mitch Cronin]

Yak 42 a.k.a. the 727ski.

[boestar]

I thought that was the TU154. I guess that more of a Tridentski

[dagger]

Plane couldn't gain altitude on takeoff and hit airport antenna.

[W5]

http://avherald.com/h?article=4428da13&opt=0

[W5]

Yak Service had come under EU safety scrutiny

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2011/09/07/361710/yak-service-had-come-under-eu-safety-scrutiny.html

Russian operator Yak Service, the operator of the Yakovlev Yak-42 which crashed at Yaroslavl today, had previously come under safety scrutiny from European and domestic regulators.

In June last year Russian authorities informed the European air safety committee that Yak Service had been prohibited from operating into European Civil Aviation Conference airspace since 18 May.

The measures were among a series designed to improve oversight of certain carriers following an "increasing number of findings raised during ramp checks having an impact on safety", said the European Union's Official Journal in July 2010.

These operating restrictions on Yak Service were, however, removed on 11 August 2010 after Russian authorities cited "satisfactory results" from oversight activities.

But the European Commission said in November that it was not satisfied that Yak Service's fleet was entirely fitted with mandatory ICAO equipment necessary for international commercial air transport, despite re-certification of certain systems by Russia's Interstate Aviation Committee.

As a result the European air safety committee opted to ban two Yak-40 trijets - registered RA-87648 and RA-88308 - from operations in European Union airspace.

"Member states will continue to verify the effective compliance of Yak Service with the relevant safety standards through the prioritisation of ramp inspections to be carried out on aircraft of this carrier," the committee added.

[Thebean]

These photos comes from a friend of mine who played in Russia a few years back.

There was no effort to deice in this instance and they landed safely.

He left the team, left a chunk of change on the table and now plays elsewhere in Western Europe. It wasn't worth the risk.

[dagger]

Was contaminated fuel or fuel starvation the problem? A pilot/witness claims the engines went silent just before crashing.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/asia-pacific/poor-quality-fuel-emerges-as-possible-cause-in-fatal-russian-jet-crash/article2157869/

[Lakelad]

.

Medvedev calls for overhaul of Russian aviation

Thursday, Sep. 08, 2011 - Financial Times

Courtney Weaver

MOSCOW - President Dmitry Medvedev has called for an overhaul of Russia's aviation sector after an aeroplane crash on Wednesday left nearly every member of one of the country's leading hockey teams dead and the country in mourning.

"The situation in Russia's civil aviation sector must be radically changed," Mr Medvedev said at the crash site on the Volga River, 300 kilometres from Moscow and 50 kilometres from the nearest city, Yaroslavl.

"This is a serious tragedy and an incident that will have serious resonance. Everything needs to be [investigated] openly and publicly," the president said, adding that the number of airlines must be reduced dramatically and the remaining carriers must be adequately funded.

The president has found himself under fire after a series of devastating air crashes this summer, which have brought even further scrutiny to Russia's beleaguered aviation industry. The sector has suffered from a decline in investment and technology since the fall of the Soviet Union, and is known for its poor safety record.

While previously Mr. Medvedev had tried to combat the problem by ordering that all Soviet-era aircraft be banned from scheduled flights by 2012, on Thursday he struck an angrier note, lashing out at the airlines themselves, which he said were not putting adequate resources into training their staff, and calling for a consolidation of the industry.

"There needs to be a serious focus on testing pilots - something is not right there,"

.

[Seeker]

"There needs to be a serious focus on testing pilots - something is not right there,"

.

Yup, that's right - blame the pilots.

How about every time there's a crash you throw that airline's executives in jail - I bet there'd be a dramatic reduction in accidents.

[W5]

Braking force affected ill-fated Yak-42's take-off run: MAK

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2011/09/18/362193/braking-force-affected-ill-fated-yak-42s-take-off-run.html

Investigators probing the Yakovlev Yak-42 crash at Yaroslavl have revealed the presence of an apparent braking force on the aircraft during the take-off run, but have yet to understand its origin.

The aircraft had entered runway 23 at taxiway 5 - about 300m (984ft) from the beginning of the strip - for the flight to Minsk on 7 September.

Russia's Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) said the Yak-42 accelerated to around 89kt, in line with the engine power setting, but that the pitch did not increase when the crew attempted to lift the nose-wheel at 100kt despite elevator deflection of 9-10°.

About 6s later the engine power was increased to a higher thrust setting. But MAK said that, despite this setting, the acceleration "slowed significantly". It added that this might be explained by "the appearance of an additional braking force", although further tests - possibly using a similar aircraft - are needed to determine the magnitude.

Parts of the braking system retrieved from the wreckage are undergoing special examination, said MAK.

The Yak-42's centre of gravity was within limits; investigators have already disclosed that the aircraft's weight was not excessive, that its flaps were set to their 20° take-off position, and that its stabiliser was set at the 8.7° pitch-up position.

MAK said the pilots had checked all the flight controls, including the elevator which deflected cleanly to a pitch-up position of 21°. The last check was carried out 1min 40s prior to take-off.

Although the elevator deflected to the pitch-up position during the take-off roll, said MAK, the aircraft failed to lift off. Its speed increased to 124kt and evidence at the crash scene indicates that the jet eventually became airborne 400m beyond the runway end, with the elevator deflected 13-14° and the stabiliser set at 9.5° pitch-up.

But the aircraft failed to gain sufficient height to clear the localiser antenna, colliding with the structure and suddenly pitching up to 20° for a few seconds. The aircraft did not achieve a height of more than 5-6m (16-20ft) before banking left and hitting trees and terrain.

Wreckage analysis shows the flaps and slats were in the take-off configuration, the spoilers were retracted and the stabiliser was positioned about 10° pitch-up. There was no disconnection of elevator control cabling.

"Technical investigators are considering all possibilities for the additional braking force during take-off and the reasons why the aircraft failed to lift off in time from the runway," MAK added.

[deicer]

Not the same crash, but indicative of a problem?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14970146

The navigator of a Russian plane that crashed killing 47 people had been drinking alcohol, investigators say.

The passenger aircraft, a RusAir flight from Moscow, hit a motorway minutes before it was to land at Petrozavodsk airport in June.

The navigator had drunk enough alcohol before take-off to make him inattentive as he was instructing the pilot to land, investigators said.

[dagger]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gUh3iLD3E0NRzTOOFGupbZJSi2BQ?docId=5db81d4bcee14b01b46ef430853fff26

Experiment points to pilot error in Russian crash(AP) – 9 hours ago

MOSCOW (AP) — A pilot helping to investigate a Russian jet crash that killed 44 people said Thursday that a simulation pointed to pilot error as the cause.

The Yak-42 jet crashed into the banks of the Volga River on Sept. 7 moments after takeoff from the city of Yaroslavl in western Russia, wiping out the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl professional ice hockey team, which included several former NHL players.

Test pilot Vasily Sevastyanov told state-run Channel One television that the plane went into a spin because a pilot pulled it up too sharply following an abnormally slow run.

Officials have not yet announced the reason for the crash, but have said that all the plane's systems were functioning normally until impact.

Russian media reports said the investigators believe that one of the pilots accidentally activated the wheel brakes during takeoff, while another pilot pulled the plane up to a critical angle in a desperate attempt to get it into the air. The sharp maneuver caused the jet to crash immediately after takeoff.

Sevastyanov, who participated in the crash simulation at the Zhukovsky flight test center outside Moscow, said a "braking force" kept the plane down during its run, and an attempt to raise the plane's nose would lead to a crash.

The only person who survived the crash, flight engineer Alexander Sizov, told Channel One from his hospital bed that he couldn't say whether the plane's brake was activated during takeoff.

The crash was the latest in a string of air disasters that have raised concern about plummeting aviation safety standards in Russia and prompted President Dmitry Medvedev to suggest replacing all Soviet-era aircraft with Western-made planes.

Industry experts note, however, that the recent air crashes in Russia are rooted not simply in the planes' age, but in a myriad of other problems, including insufficient crew training, crumbling airports, lax government controls and widespread neglect of safety in the pursuit of profit.